St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-05-08
GOODBYE. BOYS. GOODBYE.
The Meaning of a Message That
Went Over the Wires,

sDid you ever hear of anybody COM
hitting suicide by wire?" asked a tele-
graph operOtor of a party of men, young
and old, who had had experience at the
keys. One man knew of fellow who
hanged himself with a clothes line wire,
and several others had heard of eases
where men had strangled themselves on
telegraph poles and cross trees, but
these were not what the first speaker
meant.
You don't catch the point" he con-
tinued. when the overland wire was
newer than it is nova good many funny
things used to happen, and some of them
were not SO funny, either. The country
was full of romanceS and tragedies, and
we used to have them all to ourselves.
One night in the winter OF 1S69-7O ! was
on duty here alone. 1t was a bowling
night, intensely dark and stormy. Not
much was going on, and as had been
reading hair-lifting story, and was
little nervous anyway on account of the
ted in the neighborhood, 1 began to
fidget. The sounder was still, and so,
just to make little noise, | went out
and poked up the fire. Pretty
soon a press dispatch started,
and while that was going through felt
more at ease. The rattle of the instru-
ment and the occasional conversation
between the two men who were sending
and receiving made some company for
me. When this stopped the bowling of
the wind seemed louder than ever |
lighted my pipe and began to walk
around. Then picked up my book and
tried to read, but little later | resumed
my walk. Finally, at about o'clock in
the morning, settled back in my chair,
with feeling of drOwSineSS, and had
lost myself for minute or two perhaps,
when the Sounder clicked Off, sharp and
quick:
''GoOd-bye, boys! Goodbye"
II leaned forward, and as / did SO
somebody down the line broke in with
ribald remark. Then others took it up,
land pretty soon there was a general
questioning and crosS-questioning going
on for the purpose of finding out who
had sent the message. L telegraphed to
ten or twelve of the boys that had not
done so, and others had made their de-
malls. SO that after a little things became
quiet again. l sat thinking for few
minutes and was loading my pipe
for another smoke, feeling somewhat
better than had done at first, when
there came not quite as rapidly as be-
tore, but still with perfect diStinctness
the words:
% 'Good-by. boys. L say
Laramie broke in with: well, good
by. What's the matter with yOu?' and
several others whom | couldn't locate,
got on the wires with, ground that
wire cheese it, 'let Inc Sleep who's
calling? and other remarks. One or
two of the boys tried to locate the ope-
rator by calling up all the stations along
the road, but the storm was having its
effect on the wires, and as some Of the
offices were closed at night there was
good many that couid not be raised.
After that heard nothing more, and
made up my mind that some smart
Aleck was having little fun with us.
SIN the morning the man who was to
relieve me was little late, and while /
was waiting for him to come in i heard
the following press message going
through:
''Felton's Siding. Wy, - 5.-When
the day operator at this station came OH
duty this morning he found Nicholas
Barron, the night operator, dead at his
instrument with revolver at his side.
He had committed suicide sometime
during the night. He is thought to
have relatives in the East.
"'That was the duck who was tele-
graphing last night somebody said over
the wires as soon as this dispatch went
through. and so he was. He had shot
himself twice, and it is evident that he
telegraphed his farewells before each
shot. closing his key at once and making
no response 70 the chatter which his
mysterious message created. He was
pretty good fellow, but | heard that he
got lonesome out there. It's poor way
to commit suicide, though"